process · “Some companies will be able to resume production in eight weeks, others, like...

process - Durst news for the science and application of inkjet printing - Issue 86 - July 2012 1

Process: Issue 86 - July 2012

EditorialInkjet printing – making the leap from craft to industryNews• Quick aid to earthquake areas• The Omega 1 has been awarded “Product of the Year” at the Photoforum Exhibition in Russia • Probo/Sign celebrates expansion with Open HouseInstallationInterview with Pixartprinting about its new Rho P10 320R and Rho P10 200 machinesScience & TechnologyHigh Elasticity UV InkMedia & HandlingDigital printing on pliable materials using Durst Rho printersApplicationAs seen around the world on TV by millions

processDurst news for the science and application of inkjet printing

Inkjet printing – making the leap from craft to industry

Drupa has clearly shown that the future of printing is digital. Inkjet printing is constantly making inroads into new areas but, at the same time, it has to face up to the biggest challenge in its history: industrialisation of production. The almost 20 year history of inkjet printing has involved the search for optimum print quality and higher and higher production speeds, which, until now, has only really enabled inkjet to flourish in niche areas. Digital printing is most often found where there are small print runs with high demand for quality, where orders were supposed to be ready yesterday and dozens of products have to be customised in a short time. Many service providers are focusing not just on the printing but have positioned themselves as full service providers. They are concerned with whole process from the pre-printing stage through to dispatch or assembly in response to customer demands, and also out of a desire to extend their own supply chain. This means a myriad of often purely manual work stages. Digital printing companies are still often organised in a way that is reminiscent of a traditional craft enterprise or cottage industry: production to order and numerous support staff. However, if the number of individual orders or their volume rises, such a method of working soon reaches its limits. Spiralling wage costs swallow up any margins.

Establishing structured, efficient workflows in digital printing is therefore unavoidable. Here, analogue printers are often way ahead, not only as regards pure planning of production but also in communicating its requirements to the customer. Screen and offset printers often charge heavy surcharges for 24 hour service, night-time and Sunday work. Conversely, at digital printers the spool can be changed due to a single rush order late at night, a missing part taken to the exhibition grounds on Sundays, production started up for two hours during the day off - and all this without any surcharges. However, this is not just down to the customer.

Frequently, nowadays there is still no computerised production planning, cost point and materials management installed at digital printers which would allow rapid, precise product costing analysis on individual orders. Elements that drive up costs or are time consuming therefore remain unidentified. Durst has now developed the DurstView Module jointly with Caldera. It extracts print and consumption data directly from the spooler. Omega 1 and Rho users can examine this via the Web browser at any work station on the company network, add on additional costs such as finishing and dispatch and export it in spreadsheet programs for processing. Management can therefore simply and quickly establish whether a “rush job” is not only good for the company reputation but also lucrative. This provides a solid basis for key strategic decisions and prepares the way for more tightly geared automated production using suitable software, from taking an order to printing and finishing to invoicing. Digital printing has already for a long while been producing in industrial quantities and qualities. Now it must also turn itself into an industrial production organisation.


In so doing, rationalisation does not have to mean the loss of jobs. Instead, qualified employees are released from routine jobs and have time once more to focus on the development and marketing of innovative and lucrative products and services. The growing demand for more sustainable goods poses new problems for the printing industry. However, here too the DurstView Module offers new opportunities. Also, in this way, the CO2 emissions for each print order can be precisely recorded and made transparent for the customer.

Using the DurstView module from Caldera, Omega 1 and Rho users can retrieve print and consumption data anywhere on the company network.


News

Durst Phototechnik AG of Bressanone made personnel and technical assistance available to its customers right from May 20, the date of the first huge earthquake that heavily damaged Emilia Romagna. Both the Oberrauch family and Durst management are concretely helping their customers to rebuild their plants.As early as the morning of May 20 Durst technicians were on their customers’ premises, all of them ceramics manufactures, to make secure (wherever possible) their sensitive and costly Durst equipment. Durst also suspended the installment payments still owing by the companies concerned. “Some companies will be able to resume production in eight weeks, others, like Ceramica Sant’Agostino, perhaps only in ten months”, was the assessment made by Alberto Bassanello, sales manager for Italy and aid coordinator. “We have already installed equipment that will provide for a temporary resumption of production”, he stated. Obviously, this help will not be “billed” customers. Due to the continuing aftershocks, Durst has set up 19 campers. In the earthquake area, in fact, all of the campers had already been rented. “Many employees and their families cannot return to their homes. And it’s better to sleep in a camper than in a car”, Bassanello stated.

Quick aid to earthquake areas

Solidarity: Durst Phototechnik gives immediate help to the earthquake-devastated companies in Emilia Romagna.

The photo shows the 50-meter-high warehouse at Ceramica Sant’Agostino, a Durst customer. The earthquake destroyed 700,000 square meters of ceramic tiles that had already been sold.

The immediate mobilization of Durst employees was not “normal” customer service. “The companies were astonished by the rapidity of our help, which they certainly didn’t expect”, he continued. “But for Durst, all this is normal indeed”, declared Richard Piock, Durst administrator.

The Omega 1 has been awarded “Product of the Year” at the Photoforum Exhibition in Russia

The „Product of the Year“ Award is a national award first held in 2004 and awarded by the Product of the Year Award Mission which contributes to the development of the marketing of goods and services as well as consolidation of the consumer electronics market players. The jury consists of professional representatives of the leading specialist magazines, websites and independent experts in the areas of photo, audio, video, computer and mobile electronics.Product of the Year Award categories: Photographic equipment and materials, Audio and video equipment, Mobile and digital devices.The objectives of the award include: To define the best products among the recent specialties, to promote the latest products and technologies in the field of photo, audio, video, computer and portable electronics.To assist consumers with making a choice from a wide range of new products, to stimulate sales.

Photoforum is part of the Consumer Electronics & Photo Expo 2012 which was recently held in at the Crocus Expo ICC in Moscow. It is the largest exposition in Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS countries and shows the latest achievements in the field of the imaging industry.“We are very proud to be awarded the ‘Product of the Year’, which is the most prestigious award in Russia for the imaging market,” said Sergey Savenko, owner of SavaDigital, Durst’s Omega 1 distributor in Russia.Key players in the Russian and the international imaging market, including manufacturers and distributors of photographic goods and equipment, professional photo labs, photo centres and studios, demonstrated their latest innovative products and technologies. Over 300 companies exhibited, including all the major brands, as well as leading manufacturers of studio equipment.

Omega 1 „Product of the Year Award“ being presented to Sergio Savenko of SavaDigital, Durst‘s Omega 1 distributor in Russia.


News

Probo/Sign celebrates expansion with Open House

New 24 hours service: simple ordering, easy uploading, fast delivery

ExpansionThe expansion of the production area with 1,100 m2, as well as some extra rooms for the office area in an extra bungalow the company bought nearby the site, was a must for further growth. The new production hall offers room for printing, routing, finishing, and expedition.During the Open House visitors were of course also enjoying the delicious catering of restaurant Frouckje State and the music of Men in black. Manager Herman Bakker introduced all the employees of Probo/Sign to the visitors with an amusing ‘course’ of the Frisian language that is spoken in that part of the Netherlands. After the official opening everybody got the chance to get a closerlook and feel of the new equipment. One could have an extensive explanation how to use the new website. That is important, while Probo/Sign prints many products also for smaller sign makers and wide format printers in the Benelux and Germany.

First of June Probo/Sign, based in Dokkum, in the North of the Netherlands, was having an Open House for about 250 visitors from The Netherlands and Belgium. They enjoyed an informal speech of Managing Director Erwin Postma, who told the audience that the production area is expanded with 1,100 m2.Two new Durst printing systems were already installed, and a new website was recently launched for ordering jobs on a 24 hours delivery basis, especially for frontlit banner materials.

New Durst equipmentIn fact Durst will even install three print production systems; the third within a few months. Already installed is a Durst Rho 320 HS of three meters wide and using UV inks, that is able to print with a production speed of 288 m2/hour. The second that was installed just four days before the Open House, and that was already printing in full production during the Open House, is a Durst Rhotex textile printer that can print with direct dye inks 70m2 fc textile/hour. The third one, that will be installed as soon as possible, is a Durst Rho P10 flatbed printer that prints in a very fine full colour resolution based on 10 picoliter droplets done with the proven Durst Quadro Array print heads. Also a new kalander machine will be then installed.

Very fast deliveryThese printing systems have to catch up with the ordering of many different products via the newly released website of the company. Erwin Postma announced that the website will start with thefrontlit banner materials, to be delivered the next working day in case somebody orders the product before 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Other products will be offered according to this terms soon. Probo/Sign is able to assure its customers this fast delivery, because of the new equipment that is and will be installed. The underlying automation of the total workflow was a second condition to start with this 24 hours delivery service.


Installation

Roll-to-roll section with 3 Rho 320R, the first of which is Rho P10 320R

Wide Format Flatbed section with 4 Rho 700 HS in operation Bottle carrier printed on corrugated cardboard using Rho P10-200

Interview with Pixartprinting about its new Rho P10 320R and Rho P10 200 machines

Pixartprinting, a European leader in the web-to-print market, is counting on Durst once again. Field test installation of the roll to roll Rho P10 320R and the flatbed Rho P10 200, two systems from the latest range of fine art UV inkjet printers with 10-picolitre heads, is a demonstration of trust and further consolidates the partnership between Pixartprinting and Durst. Located near Venice, Pixartprinting already has three HS (High Speed) Rho 700 PACs for printing on rigid boards, one Rho 700 PAC for display packaging, and two Rho 320Rs amongst its systems. Pixartprinting was immediately attracted to the new 10-picolitre printhead technology. On May 10th, at the same time as the Rho P10 range was being officially presented to the European market at the Drupa Exhibition, the roll to roll Rho P10 320R was being installed in the production line of the Venice-based printers, to be followed two weeks later by the flatbed Rho P10 200. The field test is proceeding exceedingly well. Pixartprinting’s Chairman, Matteo Rigamonti, and General Manager, Alessandro Tenderini, were openly enthusiastic during their meeting with Alberto Bassanello, Durst Sales Manager for Italy.

Alberto Bassanello: “What are your first impressions of the new P10 technology?”Alessandro Tenderini: “The roll to roll printing is truly spectacular. We’ve always been very satisfied by the productivity and quality of the Durst machines but this time you‘ve made a real breakthrough. The technology is unexpected and surprising, the quality is incomparable. Many have tried in the past, but toner anchorage has always given them problems. Now Durst has finally cracked it and I believe that P10 technology is the real turning point that the digital printing market has been expecting after years of stagnating quality levels.”

Alberto Bassanello: “What advantages does it give you in terms of production and/or quality?”Matteo Rigamonti: “The quality level of roll to roll printing is really unbelievable, much higher than other technologies. One month after installation, I can honestly say that the system combines incredible quality and speed. And the same is true for the flatbed P10 200.”

Alberto Bassanello: “You are undertaking a rigorous field test of the system’s reliability and relative stability at Pixartprinting. How many hours a day are the new machines running and how many days a week?”Alessandro Tenderini: “The systems are running 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is fundamental for us that the technologies we choose can sustain heavy duty industrial workloads. Durst has proved to be a winning choice once again. Durst machines are real workhorses: dependable and untiring, they guarantee a uniform quality output.”


Installation

DRUPA 2012Alessandro Tenderini (Managing Director of Pixartprinting), Alberto Bassanello (Durst), Matteo Rigamonti (CEO)

Alberto Bassanello: “What materials have you tested on the machines?”Alessandro Tenderini: “We’re printing banners and micro-perforated material on the roll to roll. We’re also testing textiles but that’s still in a preliminary phase. The problem is not the system performance but sourcing the material. We’re having trouble finding a partner who can supply media that meets our quality standards in the quantities and time frames that are required to keep pace with our production volumes. For rigid media these problems just don’t exist.We’re testing all the materials we offer in our catalogue with the flatbed Rho P10 200 and the results have been very positive.”

Alberto Bassanello: “What other applications/proposals can we expect from Pixartprinting thanks to the new Durst technology?”Matteo Rigamonti: “The fine art resolution of this technology undoubtedly offers us the opportunity to explore new applications. Examples are small packaging and counter displays as well as new products for niche markets which can attract customer curiosity. For example, we recently launched a very successful promotion featuring cardboard bottle carriers.”

Alberto Bassanello: “What‘s your initial opinion of the Rho P10 200 technology?”Alessandro Tenderini: “The Rho P10 200 is a very efficient system. For the time being, however, it‘s not intended for industrial output like the Rho flatbed systems with a feeder stacker that we installed some time ago. This is an essential feature for us, given the number of jobs we handle every day. The flatbed P10 really represents a great step forward in terms of quality. That’s why we have already explained our productivity requirements to Durst, and its proactive response to our requests has been impressive. The R&D department is already at work to verify whether the automatic feeder stacker can also be mounted on the Rho P10 200. This again confirms the fact that choosing the best technology is not always enough in itself - it‘s also important to have true collaboration with your technology partners.”

Alberto Bassanello: “Is it true that you‘re planning to confirm another two roll to roll Rho P10 320 systems?”Matteo Rigamonti: “Absolutely, they’re confirmed. In the field test it passed with top marks. The three Rho P10 320Rs will replace the Rho 320R currently installed. On the back of this current wave of enthusiasm for P10 technology, we would like to launch a challenge: if Durst could apply the P10 technology to the Rho 1000 as well, that really would be a dream come true!”


Science & Technology

Sometimes all of them can be combined, with a rotation, needing, and a local stretch at the same time.

Stretching

Rotation bending with sharp angle

High Elasticity UV Ink

Nowadays flexibility is becoming one of the most important words within the industry, and of course, also in the Digital printing, where an ink must be able to adapt to most of existing substrate and application. But this time, we are going to focus more on the mechanical flexibility of the ink.

UV cured ink, with such name, remains the best solution for application on rigid substrate such plastics, aluminum, Plexiglas®, etc… Though, more and more, industry needs to work of the substrate, sometime some post process require the substrate and therefore the printed ink to be workable, bended (for example with the paper and board ink, that are folded for the packaging industry), deformed.The main printing principle of rigid inkjet remains the UV curing after jetting.

The UV ink contains UV initiator that under a special UV wave length, will start to polymerize the monomers and oligomers reactive, and will become harder, just like a plastic. Of course, the thickness of the layer not exceeding 15µm, the rigid ink keeps certain plasticity, being bendable without any particular cracks, orthogonally to the printing plan.

More and more industrial need to work with their printed substrate, being more and more often a part of another industrial product, this product will not stay a flat 2D printed substrate. Transformation can become then a rather complex geometrical folding problem. The ink must be resistive enough in every direction:Here are three typical example of possible folding:


Science & Technology

With longer molecules we maintain a link between the molecules:

The challenge for Digital Printing is to provide an ink capable to stand such geometrical stress to stretch and rotation along with bending.

Two cases appear in front of us: Working at room temperature, and working under special thermic conditions.

Working at room temperature concerns most likely paper and corrugated some elastic textile too. Making an jet-able ink that is very rigid remains rather simple, but bring numerous problem, such risk of cracks when any stress occurs. Cutting, bending, even a little, could damage the print, that‘s why flexible inks became necessary and have been developed within the past years. The ink must follow as much as possible all the movement of the substrate and in parallel keep each of its characteristics such colour, thickness, adhesion. To allow that, longer molecules have been developed allowing to slide relatively to each other without any disconnection, and then without any cracks or damage on the substrate.

With short molecules we face the following threat in case of stretching:

Extreme stretching conditions are faced in thermoforming processes, and allow us to work on such substrate. All plastic get soft under heat, called softness point, and reach most of the time just a little under a temperature of ~100°C (90°C for polystirol1, 80°C for Forex2, 80°C for Plexiglas3). When this point is achieved the material can be moulded, shaped, bended or stretched.

Of course, it will depend also of the thickness of the material, the type of plastic... The goal to reach is to have an ink that reaches its softness point at the same time than the substrate (roughly 70°C to 90°C), that is stretchable, and resistive enough to keep all its characteristics such colour gamut, adhesion after cooling...

The challenge remains to engineer an ink that is going to be able to stretch at will (though within a reasonable range) after thermic process, and that will keep its entire properties. Basically, this ink must follow the constraints of the substrate where it has been printed.

Of course, this stretching is not infinite; the layer of jetted ink on the surface of the substrate reaching about 15µm, the stretching process will naturally reduce the thickness of the layer of ink, as well as the substrate itself. We are naturally bounded, but in spite of the expansion of the substrate under the mechanical stress of the moulding and the heat, the ink will follow the shaping of the substrate within the same range and conditions and that in each direction.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene2 http://files.alcancomposites.com/downloads/5_-_/forexclassic_prodinfo_en.pdf3 http://www.plexiglas.de/NR/rdonlyres/5FDB46EB-8AB7-486C-AC14-448B2D893034/0/2111PLEXIGLASGS_XT_en.pdf


Media & Handling

Cast Plexiglas® Extruded Plexiglas®

ABS Royalite® Vivak® range

Digital printing on pliable materials using Durst Rho printers

The Durst Democentre in Lienz also prints on pliable or malleable materials for test purposes using Rho Premium Rigid Inks. These inks make an excellent bond with no further processing required. They have a top rating under the ASTM D3359 and ISO EN 2409 standards and Grade 8 UV resistance within the International Bluewool Scale which corresponds to a light fastness of at least 3 years outdoors.

Standard materials in the industry are used for test printing, such asPMMA –Polymethylmethacrylate, also known as acrylic glass or Plexiglas®, ABS –Acrylnitrile Butadiene Styrene Polycarbonate PETG –Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified

Besides a multitude of industrial applications including medical technology, the automotive industry and house building, there are also manufacturers who supply sheets of all these materials for use in the graphics market.

Plexiglas® from Evonik Industries is one of the current product names for PMMA. Acrylic glass was developed simultaneously in a number of countries in about 1930 and therefore went under various names. Ple-xiglas comes in sheet form for use in graphics as image and informati-on carriers in a cast and extruded form. Undyed it has a translucency of 92%, is unbreakable (dielectric strength: 35–40 kV/mm), pliable and easy to work. Plexiglas comes in a wide range of colours.

VIVAK® UV polyester sheeting from Bayer Sheet Europe, is a copolyester with excellent impact resistance, temperature resistance (-20 to 65°C) and fire resistance (B1 classification). Due to its good mechanical properties, this PETG offers excellent, highly creative possibilities for the design and manufacture of transparent, digitally printed displays for use in visual communication such as exhibition stands, shop-fittings and displays, vending machines, outdoor billboards and posters, as well as advertising display panels.

ABS Royalite® from ROYALITE THERMOPLASTICS comes from an inexpensive raw material with a high degree of stability. It has good surface hardness and is therefore suitable for scratch-resistant, matt or polished surfaces. ABS Royalite® has high impact resistance and good oil resistance and is used for POP where these properties are particularly important in order to protect against damage and weathering.

Lexan®, the polycarbonate from SABIC Innovative Plastics, is a clear plastic which can be dyed and is more expensive than the other materials mentioned here due to its stability (owing to the hardest polymer). Among numerous other applications, polycarbonate is used for packaging and laptop cases etc. which can be digitally printed and then moulded. The high gloss, UV resistant surface also makes Lexan 8010 film a valuable image carrier for art printing.


Application

As seen around the world on TV by millions

The largest ever picture of the Royal Family was created for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by Service Graphics in the UK.

One of the main events of the Queen’s Jubilee weekend was the Thames River Pageant where a flotilla of over 1000 boats sailed down a seven mile course of the river through the centre of London. At one point, as the Royal Barge passed the Sea Containers House located on London’s South Bank, all eyes were focused on the giant PVC commemorative banner measuring 100m x 37m. Service Graphics, which is the large format print and display division of St Ives, was awarded the print job by private real estate development firm, Deerbrook Group. The real estate company purchased the imposing 1970’s office building to develop the site which will include nine stories of offices, along with shops and restaurants and a four-star Mondrian branded hotel with 360 rooms. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2014 and will be the first Mondrian hotel in Europe.

Scott King, sales director of Service Graphics said: „We are delighted to work with the Deerbrook Group to produce such an extraordinary building banner.”„This project represents the largest ever single graphic produced by Service Graphics and we are extremely pleased with the result.“

Nigel Franklin, production services manager of Service Graphics, commented: “Service Graphics are delighted with the print quality, speed and reliability of the Rho 500R.”


Durst PhototechnikAGLarge Format PrintingVittorio-Veneto-Straße 5939042 Brixen, ItalyTelefon +39 0472 81 01 11Telefax +39 0472 83 09 [email protected]

All rights reserved on images

and illustrations.

Durst® is a Registered Trade Mark

Application

The black back PVC banner was printed in 42 sections on its Durst Rho 500R printer in Chessington, Surrey and then fabricated into seven sections using high frequency welding to bond the material. Service Graphics only had 15 days to turn the job around as planning permission was only granted on the 10th May and the completed banner was unveiled at 10am on Friday 25th May.

Apart from the short time scale, the sheer size and weight of each section of the banner posed a challenging task with the installation and getting the sections into position on the scaffolding at 12th floor level.

The banner itself depicts the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, with Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, Lord Mountbatten along with The Queen, Prince Philip, Captain Mark Phillips and Princess Annestanding on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

For more information on Service Graphics, please visit www.servicegraphics.co.uk

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